Good Talk
by Raberba girl
Summary: Roxas, can you please yell at me, wreck my apartment, raid my freezer, and watch Disney princess movies on my TV some other day when I'm NOT falling asleep every two seconds...? Rated for language, just to be safe.


Good Talk

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Roxas, can you please yell at me, wreck my apartment, raid my freezer, and watch Disney princess movies on my TV some other day when I'm NOT falling asleep every two seconds...?

A/N: ...I have a rule against letting characters cuss at _all_ in my fanfiction, much less to excess, but unfortunately this fic sounds pretty awkward as a result. :/ Just...imagine Roxas dropping F-bombs/etc. every other word, okay? -.-

o.o.o

Even for Axel, two-and-a-half back-to-back shifts was a bit much. He just hadn't been able to say no to Naminé's anxious puppy eyes, and then the new guy had come in late again, and now Axel was so exhausted as he trudged into his apartment that when he fell onto the couch, he couldn't get back up.

"Mmn." His stomach kept rumbling. Too tired to go microwave anything, though; too tired to _move_. So he just lay there for a while. _'Can't sleep, Axel,'_ he thought fiercely at himself when he felt his eyes dragging closed. _'Got to get things ready for tonight, Saïx and Aqua'll kill you if you sleep through it...'_

Soooooooo tired. "Blech."

He was startled out of his doze by the sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs outside, then the door bursting open so hard it crashed against the wall.

"Hi, Rox." What time was it? Not even three o'clock yet. Kid must have skipped his last class again.

"I'M GONNA EFFING _KILL_ HIM, THIS IS NOT A _JOKE_!" Roxas screamed.

"Again?" He was so not up to this at the moment. After a nap, sure; but noooottt so much at the moment.

"RRAAAAGGGGHHH! I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I'M GONNA MESS HIM UP _SO EFFING BAD...!_" The walls were taking a beating- Bit more than a beating, since Roxas apparently had a pocketknife in his hand. Axel watched, with an air of resignation, the wallpaper getting gouged to ribbons.

"Rox." He managed to get hold of one of the couch pillows and slung it over his body in the boy's direction. "Repair costs get added to my rent."

There was a tense, seething pause, then Roxas snatched up the pillow and began beating things with it instead of with the knife, silently at first. Then the screams gradually started up again, wordless now, until he turned on the pillow and punched it and then ripped it to shreds.

Axel tried to be exasperated. But Roxas looked so funny, so angry and surrounded by pillow fluff, some of it caught in that ridiculous hair of his, that Axel couldn't help laughing instead.

Roxas flew across the room and loomed over him, fingers gripping his sleeves, an expression on his face which oddly seemed to mix fury with anxiety.

"Man, that was just what I needed after today..."

"Are you being funny?" Roxas snarled. Axel detected a genuine need to know beneath the belligerence.

"Roxas, I'm so tired I can barely _move_. _Everything_ seems funny to me."

The tension didn't leave the boy's body, though his grip loosened a little. "You worked?"

"Almost eighteen hours straight...and I need to meet with some people later, I can't sleep until...I've..." Maybe he'd dozed off again for a second, because he opened his eyes and now saw Roxas stomping around the room. The kid kicked a stool out of the way and then suddenly flung himself on the couch next to Axel, grabbing for the remote.

Axel remembered that he had a "script" of sorts to follow. "Rox, you wanna talk?"

"NO," Roxas snarled. Then, "I HATE him," which was difficult to hear because of the sudden noise from the TV.

"Who, Seif-?"

"I'M JUMPING HIM TOMORROW I AM MESSING HIM UP _SO FREAKING BAD_ IF YOU TRY TO STOP ME I'LL _HURT_ YOU I'LL-"

"Stop yelling. I can't hear the TV."

Roxas blinked, seeming to notice what was on the screen for the first time. He stared at it as Axel tried to come up with a good response.

"What is this crap?"

"Xion must've left it on the Disney channel again..."

"You're such a loser."

Axel noted, however, that Roxas did not change the channel.

_"Come on, fleabag!"_ Flynn ordered on screen a few minutes later. _"Forward!"_

"This is frickin' stupid," Roxas remarked as he watched the thief and the horse struggle to get to the satchel, but then he let out a genuine bark of laughter as Maximus began stomping at Flynn's fingers.

When Axel woke up again, Flynn and Rapunzel were crawling out of the river, and this pillow was warm but wouldn't stay still.

That's because it was alive. Axel lifted his head off the kid's shoulder and scrambled to sit up again. Roxas regarded him, licking at a bar of sea-salt ice cream. Axel finally gave a wry grin and said, "Make yourself at home, Rox. Can I offer you some ice cream?"

"Nah, I'm good," Roxas said, eyes twinkling.

There was a pause, then Axel sighed. "Hey. Sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Pffft, my little sister weighs more than you; I barely noticed."

He seemed to be in a better mood. _'Guess Disney's good for that.'_ "So you just wanna chill with Zel here 'til you're up to going home, or you wanna talk?"

Roxas's face darkened again. "I'M WATCHING A MOVIE SHUT UP."

Though when Axel came back with an ice cream for himself and some popcorn, Roxas started ranting before he was even able to sit down.

"I _told_ you I'd bust him if that punk ever got up in my face again but I was good I was GOOD 'cause Rainfell keeps giving me that frickin' _face_ every time I screw up and I WASN'T gonna do it this time but GAAAAHHHH he was talking crap but I, I _ran_, I RAN, Axel, after I punched him, so DON'T tell me I don't try and don't tell me I have to make a frickin' effort because that effing snothole'd be in the hospital if I hadn't, if I hadn't, GAH I HATE YOU ALL I _HATE YOU_...!"

He wasn't interested in any of the attempted therapy-talk afterward - the opportunity to vent seemed to be enough. Axel dutifully kept at it anyway, going through the script as Roxas lounged beside him, watching a giant sun-flower growing out of Flynn's stomach and giving no sign that he heard a word.

"Good talk," Axel finally gave up. "I'm a fantastic mentor, aren't I."

Roxas didn't say anything until the credits started rolling. Then he kicked Axel awake and said, "I feel better. You're a good mentor. I'll keep trying."

"Oh. Um...well...good."

Roxas frowned. "Hey."

"Yeah?" Axel said, a little apprehensively.

But now Roxas was looking uncomfortable. "Don't...don't tell Gainsborough, okay? Don't tell her."

"What, that I'm apparently doing my job for once despite being a fail?"

"Yeah."

Axel had been joking. "Oh. ...Well, good to see you doing better, even if I get no credit for it." He grinned to show he wasn't upset.

"...Hey, you're not gonna get fired or anything if they think you suck, right?"

"Well...I mean, I'm a volunteer, so I dunno..."

"...You can tell her a _little_ bit."

"Just a little, huh?"

"Yeah."

Axel reached out to ruffle his hair. "You're so nice, Roxy, risking damage to your fragile teenage dignity."

"Hey!"

A little later, as he was leaving, Axel called after him, "Hey, Rox?"

The boy paused in the doorway, looking back curiously.

"Come over some time when I've had more than a couple hours of sleep and worked less than two shifts in a row, okay?"

Roxas grinned and waved a casual salute before continuing on down the stairs.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: GAH, failfic on so many levels, I hate how this turned out. orzzzzzz

For once, I wanted to try a non-clueless/puppy-cute Roxas... The result was NOT what I had in mind. -.-


End file.
